Nokia's Cellphone Anthropologist

holy_calamity writes "New Scientist have an interview with a Nokia researcher who uses anthropological methods to study how people use their phones. His work currently focuses on watching how people in emerging markets like Africa use their devices to inform designs. For example, after finding that in Uganda many people use one handset, they shipped a version with multiple separate address books. There's also a slideshow of Chipchase's research images."

Comments

multiple separate address books

[lucas teh geek]

my phone is pretty ancient so perhaps it's a common feature now, but multiple address books sounds like something that would be useful everywhere, not just Uganda. being able to separate work contacts, from social contacts and from old school contacts would be great.

Stale Contacts

[camperdave]

One feature I'd like to see on a phone (I don't have one, so I don't know if this exists or not), is a date of last contact field. I hate phoning someone that I haven't spoken to in a while only to find out that their number has changed. If I had a list of who I hadn't contacted in a while, I could either touch base, or wipe their name.

Market Research?

[Anonymous Coward]

This sounds like market research at a global company, not anthropology.

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[Xolotl]

That's not the point ... the point is: rather than selling unnecessary or useless 'features' at high cost or dumping outdated technology at low cost, why not design something simple and robust and inexpensive but takes advantage of new technology?

This is the approach Renault took for the Dacia Logan car ... and it is proving very successful.

Re:Cellphones as "enablers"

[grcumb]

There is a simple reason for it. If they were to introduce a simple and robust phone, people in developed countries would cry out for it, and their overpriced complex phones with features that will never get used will not sell anymore.

That's untrue, at least in my experience.

The incumbent monopoly in the developing country where I live never showed any interest in selling glitzy phones. In fact, the phones they offered were cheaper, more robust and simpler than what you could get just down the road.

Just this year, the telecoms monopoly has been terminated and the latest entrant is even more intent on offering phones that are well-suited to this tropical environment. When they set up shop in nearby Papua New Guinea, they were offering two pre-paid phones for the equivalent of about USD 15.

Telcos in the developing world know which side their bread is buttered on. They provide a service, not a product. With the introduction of competition here, the two telcos are fighting for mindspace based on coverage, call quality and price. Selling reliable phones - even packaging them with solar charging kits - is the only way they can ensure a reliable revenue stream.